Aduro Biotech Europe's Chief Scientific Officer, Andrea Van Elsas, Ph.D. Featured as Keynote Speaker on Immunomodulatory Antibodies at ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology 2015

BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 20, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aduro Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADRO), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, today announced the presentation of an overview of novel antibody and combination strategies designed to stimulate durable anti-tumor response at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Symposium on Immuno-Oncology 2015, taking place November 20-21, 2015, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The presentation was featured in a keynote lecture delivered at the ESMO symposium by Andrea van Elsas, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Aduro Biotech Europe, titled, "Immunomodulatory Antibodies Beyond PD-1."

The presentation focused on advancements in the field of immuno-oncology involving combination antibody approaches targeting T cells (e.g. CD27 agonists), the tumor-immune interfaces (e.g. CD47 - SIRP(alpha) axis), dendritic cells and macrophages and bispecific antibodies. Dr. van Elsas also discussed promising early work with new agonists such as cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs).

"Recent advances in immunotherapy are bringing about a new era of cancer medicine and revolutionizing the development of novel treatments across a broad range of cancer types," said Dr. van Elsas. "Checkpoint inhibitors have clearly demonstrated clinical benefit as single agent therapy in some patient populations, but emerging data suggests combination therapy may be required to extend this benefit to a majority of patients. At Aduro, our focus is on advancing multiple therapeutic approaches that have the potential to yield powerful immunotherapy combinations."

During the presentation, Dr. van Elsas summarized the three diverse immunotherapy platforms that Aduro focuses on that aim to disrupt the tumor microenvironment and harness patients' immune systems to fight multiple cancer targets: 

• LADD (live, attenuated, double-deleted Listeria mononcytogenes) involving bacteria-based mobilization of the immune system
• CDNs targeting small molecule activation of the Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) receptor leading to T cell priming specific for tumor neoantigens
• B-select technology targeting first or best-in-class agonist and antagonist monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)
  
  

Additionally, key topics that were highlighted in the presentation included:

• Preclinical data demonstrating potent anti-tumor activity of ADU-S100, a proprietary molecule based on Aduro's CDN platform technology
• ADU-S100's ability to induce innate immunity through STING, a critical receptor to activate immune cells including dendritic cells in the tumor microenvironment
• The formulation of ADU-S100 with GVAX into the cancer vaccine - "STINGVAX" - that was shown to be active in anti-PD1 resistant tumors.  GVAX is a family of cancer immunotherapies acquired by Aduro in 2013
• Research demonstrating mode-of-action of CD27 agonistic antibodies
• Research demonstrating how antibodies that block CD47 - SIRP(alpha) interaction to enhance tumor killing and rejection as well as elicit functional cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)
  
  

Aduro believes this research underscores the critical importance of not only overcoming immune suppression, but also activating and stimulating the immune system using Aduro's CDN approach targeting the STING receptor and Aduro's LADD-based immunotherapies.

About Aduro 
Aduro Biotech, Inc. is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies that transform the treatment of challenging diseases. Aduro's technology platforms, which are designed to harness the body's natural immune system, are being investigated in cancer indications and have the potential to expand into autoimmune and infectious diseases. Aduro's LADD technology platform is based on proprietary attenuated strains of Listeria that have been engineered to express tumor-associated antigens to induce specific and targeted immune responses. Based on compelling clinical data in advanced cancers, this platform is being developed as a treatment for multiple indications, including pancreatic, lung and prostate cancers, mesothelioma and glioblastoma. Aduro's cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) platform is designed to activate the intracellular STING receptor, resulting in a potent tumor-specific immune response. Aduro's B-select monoclonal antibody platform includes a number of immune modulating assets in research and preclinical development. Aduro is collaborating with leading global pharmaceutical companies to expand its products and technology platforms. For more information, please visit www.aduro.com.

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This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our intentions or current expectations concerning, among other things, the potential for our technology, plans and timing of our clinical trials and the potential for eventual regulatory approval, commercialization and launch of our product candidates. In some cases you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "project," "plan," "expect" or the negative or plural of these words or similar expressions.  Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated, including, but not limited to, our history of net operating losses and uncertainty regarding our ability to achieve profitability, our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates, our ability to use and expand our technology platforms to build a pipeline of product candidates, our dependence on our lead product candidate, CRS-207, and GVAX Pancreas, our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, our inability to operate in a competitive industry and compete successfully against competitors that have greater resources than we do, our reliance on third parties, and our ability to obtain and adequately protect intellectual property rights for our product candidates.  We discuss many of these risks in greater detail under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in the most recent Form 10-Q which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any forward-looking statements that we make in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

Contact:
Sylvia Wheeler
SVP, Corporate Affairs
510 809 9264

Media Contact:
Angela Bitting
925 202 6211
press@aduro.com